A CrackBerry forum user has shared screenshots of the upcoming BlackBerry 10.2 OS update which has a feature that we've been pining after since our first smartphone.

The feature in question is the ability to respond to messages directly from the notifications menu. Simply pull down, tap the message and reply instantly, straight from the notification menu itself.

Sure you're only saving yourself a few seconds, but those precious few seconds waiting for an email or SMS app to fire up will seem tedious, outdated and downright clunky in comparison. You can even respond to messages directly from the lock screen for even faster responses.

Let's just hope key apps like Evernote continue trickling into the BlackBerry World app store, which remains BlackBerry's biggest setback.

EDIT: Just to clarify: in the current stock version of iOS and Android, you can hit reply (or tap on the notification) which then sends you to the relevant messaging app, where you can then reply as normal.

The difference with BlackBerry 10.2 is that a text input box appears in the dropdown notification bar itself, which you can then use to reply without having to enter a separate app.